Project: MI

Summary: Fears of the Dark Age rapidly approaches. The old champions are lost; vanished amidst a sea of fear and distrust. New heroes must take up arms. They must rise and become the new defenders of the Age.

Chapter 1

The Nephilim were on the earth in
those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of
humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Genesis-6:4

Twelve
year old Jamie Grey was up and tossing aside his blankets as soon as his alarm
clock began blaring. Mashing down the snooze button, his bare feet were on the
cool floor and he started snatching up clothing, hardly even taking any notice
of what he intended to wear, and instead shrugged it on. In the back of his
mind, he imagined his mother scolding him for not taking care of his
appearance—and indeed, his shaggy brown hair, unable to decide if it was
straight or wanted to curl, was in such a bed-made disarray that, when matched
with his pale complexion, he ended up spooking people once in proper light, at
times causing him to be mistaken for a homeless child or the returned dead.

Between these two, the latter was
honestly the more believable. One of the many ‘miracles’ of an earlier Age.

Giving his hair barely more than a
ruffle, he pulled on a pair of sneakers and was out the door.

“Heading to the park, Mom,” he said
to a thin woman passing him in the hallway upon exiting his room.

“Hm,” she grunted in a tired tone.
Adjusting the collar of her business suit she gave him a quick appraisal. “You
forgot to comb your hair,” she said. Jamie gave her a quick, lopsided smile. It
was a scold, just as he thought, but there was little life in it.

“I’ll do it later,” he replied
before furrowing his brow, seeing dark bags under her eyes. “You look tired.”

“The court case isn’t going anywhere
fast,” she sighed. As if Jamie’s words had been a reminder, her tired eyes
brightened ever so slightly as she remembered the time. “I’ve got to go. Give
us a smutz.” Leaning down she gave him a quick, and loud, kiss on the forehead.
“Your father is downstairs reading the news. He’s had a bad night so try not to
disturb him when you eat breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry anyway,” Jamie
shrugged, stepping out of the way for his mother as she quickly moved by him.

“Have fun with your friends,” she
called, heading down the stairs. Jamie gave a small wave before quickly
following. As he did so, he passed a bedroom door with a picture of a
white-furred rabbit, marred by pink and blue crayon scribbles. He touched the
knob briefly before descending down the stairs.

Outside!

The word sung in Jamie’s thoughts as
he raced down sidewalks and across the street, his direction taking him down to
Clarks Pathway, the route that would ultimately take him Clarksville Park, a
place that held a rather special place in Jamie’s heart—if not the world in
fact. It was the heart of the city that grew increasingly more wooded as one went
deeper within. That alone was important to the young boy, as it became so far
removed from stone buildings and adults that it took on an almost magical, wild quality to it that always seemed to
change whenever one stepped inside. One never knew what to expect once they
were inside—save for the presence of mosquitoes, who seemed to be everywhere—at
least to Jamie. One of his friends, a slightly older boy by the name of Justin
Page, decried the whole place as one gigantic waste of space full of nothing but
a swamp of green. One that, thanks to the insidious buzzing, blood-drinking
insects, threatened to eat him alive.

“To
each their own,” the voice of the same boy said in Jamie’s mind, causing
him to smile. It wasn’t as though they never hung out in the place together
regardless of the perils.

Jamie quickly entered the fringes of
the park, a wide open field of grass, the ‘shoreline’, such as it were, and one
of the many islands of open space that occasionally broke the thick foliage.
Passing by a pair of morning joggers he gave them a quick wave before veering
off to the left and plunged in the direction of a wall of trees. Disappearing
within the small forest, he plowed unmindfully through the brush. He knew the
route by heart now, so he had no worry about getting lost.

“Hey!” Jamie called out after a few
minutes of battling his way through entangling bushes. “Monster! Are you still
out there?”

From off in the distance, he heard a
loud ‘woof’. An eager smile spread across his face and he picked up his pace.
Breaking into a clearing, he set his eyes first on the statue that stood in the
center and then down toward its leg, where a red leash was tied. Following its
path, his gaze fell upon a small, dog-like creature. ‘Dog-like’, but not a dog,
as the resemblance was born only by its physical similarity, at least as far as
its shape went. Most dogs however tended to not have six legs, nor did they
have two heads.

They also most certainly did not
have midnight-purple fur.

The dog-like creature barked again
at Jamie, and smiling the boy made his way over to him and took hold of two of
the four floppy ears, giving both heads a good scratching. Groaning
pleasurably, the two heads leaned into his hands, seeking to soak in as much of
the attention as possible.

“Sorry that I had to leave you out
here,” Jamie said, removing his hands and taking hold of the leash so he could
untie it. “You understand though, right?”

The two dog-heads tilted to one
side, four eyes focused on him. Jamie sighed. He heard that Cerberus’ could
understand human language, but in the short time he had known this one—albeit
less than twenty-four hours—it showed no sign that it did so at all.

Then
again, these guys usually have three heads, and I’ve never heard of one that
had purple fur. He furrowed his brow as he slipped the leash off from
around the statue’s leg. Cerebrus’ were typically bred to be guard dogs, but
their ownership was tightly controlled due to their temperament. This one
was…an oddity to say when compared to others of his brethren, but one he was
grateful for. He liked oddities.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Jamie said,
getting up. “I’ll take you back to my place in a little bit. Dad’ll have gone
to work by then, so I’ll be able to get you some food. What do you think about
that?”

The two heads barked as one and
Jamie made a slightly frustrated face at him. “Yeah, I figured you’d understand
that.”

Before they left, Jamie took a
moment to eye the statue that had served as the dog’s makeshift shelter. It
depicted a man in a kneeling position wearing what appeared to be a stylish
costume with a blazing sun-like logo centered on his chest. A cape billowed
behind him, one hand grasping the ground while the other hovered in front of
the sun symbol, as though in prayer to the gods. Jamie remembered that, once
upon a time, just what gods he prayed to.

What
was he fighting again? he wondered, trying to remember what he learned in
his history class. There were many statues like this one—eight in Clarkesville
alone—depicting different ‘Heroes of the world’ and most were in the same
position as this one. Here, only one of them stood out in one of the open
islands where the public regularly mingled.

Oh
yeah, now I remember, Jamie thought, brightening up a little. Smiling
again, he gave the statue a snappy salute.

“Thanks for
sheltering Monster,” he said to the statue before turning his head back down to
the Cerberus. “C’mon. Let’s go.” Giving a sharp click of his tongue, he tugged
on the leash so that they could get moving. No sooner did the animal start to
do so did brush snap loudly behind him. Startled, Jamie spun around and nearly
tripped over his feet. Behind him stood a bearded man wearing a ball cap
stumble into the clearing, a bewildered, panicked look on his face. His small
eyes sighted on Jamie and he lurched toward him.

“He-help me…” he wheezed. Jamie
instinctively took a step toward the man, concern appearing instantly in his
mind before common sense could take hold.

“Hey, are you all right?” he asked
as the man fell in front of him, already dropping down to help him. Before he
could say or do anything else, the man suddenly stood up and grabbed Jamie by
the head, pulling him forward. There was a flash of light as a syringe suddenly
appeared in the man’s free hand and he stabbed it next to Jamie’s sternum. In
the next moment pain exploded in his chest and his mouth contorted into a scream
as it worked its way up into his skull. Through the lightning-charged noise
crashing in his head, he found that he wasn’t screaming at all. The only thing
making any noise at that moment was tiny Cerberus, barking and growling like
mad at the man that was attacking the boy.

Somehow, Jamie found himself
gripping the man’s wrists, struggling to pull them apart. The air was crackling
with electrical energy now, snapping and snaking around the two. Every part of
Jamie’s body screamed for release…but the man refused to let go.

“Not…just…yet,” the man rasped,
tightening his grip on Jamie’s head. In response, Jamie gritted his teeth and
tried to pull. He failed. He didn’t know how, but something was preventing him
from doing so, just as something was now keeping him from crying out. He gasped
as he felt a particularly powerful jolt course its way through his arms and
meet in the center of his chest. His heart gave a nasty lurch and for one long
moment, he swore that it ceased beating altogether. His hands dropped to his
sides, and he hung there limply, his legs somehow supporting him.

There was another loud bark from the
Cerberus. He barely heard it in the darkness that was closing in on his senses,
but it was there, and it sounded angry. The pressure of the man’s hands on his
head loosened, and dimly he heard a loud curse followed by a yelp of pain—a
small animal in pain.

“Don’t you dare…!!!” Something snapped inside Jamie just then. His hands
grabbed hold of the man’s wrists and he pulled sharply, throwing as much
strength as he possibly could into it. This time there was a loud snap and the
man’s fingers went dead. He screamed, causing Jamie to jump back quickly, his
eyes bewildered as he saw the horrific, bloody angle that the man’s wrists now
hung at.

“Wha…” Jamie choked out, trying to make
sense of the scene before him. Suddenly the man was no longer screaming, but
instead laughed, almost in relief.
Jamie barely took note of it though as his eyes remained stuck on the twisted,
mangled arms. “Ah… Ah…”

He couldn’t bear to look anymore. His
eyes recoiling in terror, they rapidly swung around to locate the Cerberus. The
animal was lying on the ground, a scar of singed fur marring his purple coat.
He was already getting up though, both sets of fangs barred and growling.

“Monster!” he called, and the dog’s ears
perked up. He was on his feet—wobbly but he was moving—and quickly raced over
to where Jamie stood. Quickly snatching up his friend, Jamie spun and bolted,
leaving the cap-wearing man behind, slumping down to his knees, his arms
hanging by his side like dead weights.

Behind him he heard the sound of a
mechanical whining, getting closer with each passing second. He signed in
resignation and turned to look over his shoulder. It was a quant curiosity
really. He knew what to expect. Which was why he was not surprised when he saw
a cloud of black orbs with a single glass eye, glowing red, surging toward him.

Jamie raced down the beaten path,
his heart beating a gloriously alive—if frantic—pace within his chest. He threw
a look over his shoulder to see if there was any sign of pursuit, but in his
haste he found himself tripping over a root before he could get a good look. He
smashed into the ground—biting his tongue in the process and drawing some blood—causing
the Cerberus to yelp in his arms.

Before his frightened eyes, the
puppy took off at a run, dragging his leash behind him. Jamie staggered to his
feet, trying to go after him, but all at once his muscles cramped up, causing
him to collapse to the ground in a crumpled heap.

“M-Monster…” he groaned, digging his
fingers into the dirt and trying to pull himself back up. He had to find the
Cerberus. He had to…

A shadow fell over him just then,
and looking up, the boy found himself staring at the glowing red eye of a
black, metal orb. He recognized it and he felt himself grow cold as he stared
into its glaring, lifeless sight.

“Are
you all right, citizen?” the black sphere asked in its indifferent,
mechanical voice. It didn’t sound in the least like it cared; as though the
question were a mere formality that had to be done and over with in order to
get on with its job.

Trembling, Jamie opened his mouth to
speak, but no words made their way past his lips. Looking up past the orb, he
saw a flock of orbs rapidly approaching. A feeling of electricity surged
through him and at once the orb shook.

Gripping the sides of his head,
Jamie screamed as power welled up inside him and shot outward. The orb, caught
in the wake of the explosion, shattered like glass, sending bits of shrapnel
flying in all directions. Jamie fell back under the onslaught, the sharp metal
cutting into his arms and face. He lay there for a moment, shaking while
peeking past his arms. More orbs were approaching, albeit cautiously, eyes red
and focused on him. He staggered to his feet, breathing heavily.

I’ve
got to get out of here, he thought. He knew he was panicking, but right now
panic seemed to be about as good as anything to do. He felt the buzz of
electricity around him again and, without him noticing, he began to lift up
from off the ground.

A red dot of light appeared on his
shirt and in the next moment Jamie recoiled as a circle of fire burst on his
shirt. Jamie fell back to the ground, swatting at the small flame in the hopes
of putting it out. Out! Out! O…huh?
His chest was cold all of a sudden, and a sparkling sheen of ice appeared
materialized beneath his touch. How did
that…?

He had no time to complete the
thought as the flock of orbs swarmed around him. Red lights lit up all around
his body.

The last thought Jamie had before the
orbs opened fire was of Monster, and how he wished he could fly.

“Target
is secure,” spoke up a female voice on the other end of the phone. The
red-headed man holding it nodded. His eyes were expressionless and flat, and
when he spoke his tone held all the emotion of stone.

Hanging up, he turned toward the
large view screen hanging on the wall of his office. The screen displayed a
figure, their identity shrouded by a series of pixels.

“Adam Bishop is being brought in,”
he told the figure. “It seems however that he accomplished his goal.”

“Hnnn…”
the figure replied. Their voice was deep and distorted. “Most unfortunate. He moved too quickly. I’m afraid that we can’t keep
this incident a secret. It is likely you will be recalled once word reaches the
top brass.”

“Likely,” Burton agreed with a
nod of his head.

“This
is a high cost operation. To think that Adam Bishop would do this…”

“I’ll handle the cleanup.” Burton
adjusted his tie, and for a moment his eyes suggested tension. “Should be the
least I can do, seeing as how the First
has been activated prematurely. Don’t worry about it.”

“I
won’t,” the figure replied. “But you
should, Director Burton. This is your jurisdiction after all. The First was
under your watch as was Bishop.” The figure leaned back. “Don’t screw things up any further than they
already are. The First is at a critical stage now, and he can’t be terminated
yet.” The figure paused before continuing, “Provided that he does not do so on his own. Becoming a heroi is a
messy process after all. More so with the lack of maturation that was supposed
to occur…”

“I’ll see to my end,” Burton
said. “You just see to yours.”

“That
is all either of us can do,” the figure nodded. “All right. I’ll leave you to do just that. Good luck.”

The country will most certainly need
it,
Burton thought as the figure ended the telecom.

SandraHan1:
This story is very descriptive, with vivid scenes from the very beginning, which made for a good scene setting. I love the symbolism in names, such as “Naysayers”, “Hadd”, etc . The story itself is revolutionary, intriguing, emotional and exciting. I was very pleased to see that there is a happy ...

Ahmad Momenai:
it was a great time reading this story,i really enjoyed it but there were many, if not some plot holes that I'm curious how would be filled. plot holes like 'what happened to the baby tree?' 'what happened to the uncle and the godfather?' what happened to the scientists?' .i would love to read a ...

Drew C. Elyon:
I've only read one chapter so far, but from what I've seen, this is steampunk at its best. The narrative flows so beautifully I could envision every scene in an almost cinematic fashion. I believe in the complexity of simplicity, and this story has that in its descriptions.

NancyRichFoster:
Wow! This is a blow you away story in every sense of the word. kudos to the author for a story about a killer virus caused by seeing colors, mad scientists, torture, friends, sacrifice and death. I read it in less then a day.

greatbooks:
Kudos for writing such a masterpiece. I would like to feature your Inkitt book for free to my list of newsletter subscribers. If that is alright by you then please email me at exzordersplrwso AT gmail.com to book your spot, thanks. Only 40 spots are left.

Jalakins:
I loved this story. The characters were very interesting and engaging. The plot was very interesting and I had a hard time when I had to stop reading - just wanted to read it all in one sitting! My only complaint on the story is that sometimes I felt like the storyline jumped from one thing to a ...

uccowade:
im not quite done....200 pages left. very well written. my only criticism would be the minor spelling, grammar and structure errors. needs more polishing....regardless I was able determine how word or sentences were likely intended to be written. errors we're relatively minor in frequency and...

Jason Phang:
I'm pretty new to Inkitt (this is only my 4th book) and I must say I've been thoroughly impressed by the quality of the authors here. Remnants of Chaos is an excellently written book that hooks the reader, and doesn't let go. There are some grammatical and typographical errors, but nothing too se...

Chevonne Prinsloo:
I loved this book.. I didn't want to stop reading it! just my kind of book... I really love how the plot of the story carries along. I hope there are more books to follow after this one! I like the way she describes how Rogue is feeling and the way she shows the emotions going through Rogu. I als...

Pablo Rojas:
Love the story, at the end it is a western story, simple, yet giving hints and pieces of the situation that is happening all over ravencroft´s universe. easy to read and always keeping with the main stream story I want to keep reading about, Olafson´s adventures.

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